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Part of this is good news in that the overall quality of Italian wine has risen in the last generation. Where Chianti (or rather, wine labeled as Chianti) represented a perceived standard of quality that other regions, say Abruzzo or Apulia or Sicily, had not risen to, now that is not the case. Add to that the Italian predilection and pride for their regional products (food, wine, etc) and one gets a sense from, let's say, talking to a winemaker from Tuscany, that the potential for the growth of their products in Italy is not so rosy.
Other factors play into the winemaker's collective predicament. One is that Italians are drinking less wine. Another is that the Italian middle class is economically challenged. Inotherwords, their spendable Euros have diminished for items like wine. Historically, wine served as a nutritional supplement to the Italian diet. That is no longer the case. Wine is no longer essential. Inexpensive wine, however, still has a place. But countries like Spain have dug into the market and replaced a good amount of Italian wine on the dining tables of Italians.
Another huge factor is getting independent wine shops and restaurants to pay their bills on time, or at all. I have sat with Italian salespeople and winery representatives who have told me horror stories about not getting paid. In some cities, like Rome, I have been told, restaurants routinely cycle through winery inventory, electing to not pay their invoices. When the winery stops shipments, they cycle to another winery or region. What about consistency? In some cases, like house wine, what does it matter? They are only serving it for tourists who don't know any better. This I have been told, point blank.
This is a bit of a national disgrace, a perfect storm. Italian wineries are making better wine, at all levels, and they cannot get the love and attention in their own country? The early adopters figured this out some time ago and headed to Germany, England and the USA, before heading to Northern Europe, Russia and Asia. But now, even small boutique wineries are casting their net, not just outside their region, but outside their country. I see this as a parallel tragedy to the reality that Italy is experiencing in the outsourcing of their manufacturing and artistic legacy. Where once every little village in Italy had a high number of craftsmen and artists, nowadays fewer and fewer Italians are learning those crafts, studying music, art, film. Italian wine (and winemaking) has never been better but who in Italy cares?
Why America? (We could also ask why Germany, why England?)
For one, America is 6+ times larger in population than Italy. It is potentially a larger target market) as is China with a 21+ times larger population). And they are younger markets, with a chance for good growth over the next 25 years. Meanwhile in Italy, the birthrate is declining, even as the immigration rate is rising dramatically. But Italy is (was?) embedded with wine culture. Some of the "new Italians" need to learn to drink wine, much as the Americans and Chinese. The economical momentum doesn't favor Italy, though. The smart money is still looking outside of Italy.
But how smart is it? A motif that keeps surfacing in my life is the idea of justice. Justice in work, in esthetic matters, in life. How just is it that Italian winemakers are making the best wine they have ever made in the history of winemaking and their neighbors and citizens cannot even see that? That thousands of miles away, in places like Chengdu, China and Marfa, Texas there is more interest, more energy, for the pleasure of wines from Italy? I'm stumbling a little here, as if I was just cold-cocked. How can a winery that has been around for a thousand years not be able to have their lovingly crafted wines appreciated in Naples, in Venice, in Rome? Something is very wrong with this. Is the Italian wine industry in danger of going the same way the Italian silk industry went? You may think this is sounding a rather too loud alarm, but think about it. There are places in Italy that never dreamed their music would be more beautifully interpreted on the other side of the earth. There are places in Italy who never imagined their lace crafts disappearing into the dustbin of history. Is wine, made in Italy, capable of going in that direction?
That's the million dollar question.
written and photographed by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy
wine blog + Italian wine blog + Italy W


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The bomb plot that unfolded in Britain this weekend puts a damper on the British National Health Service. This is a form of irony that even Michael Moore couldn't have predicted. In the movie Sicko, Michael Moore applauds the British National Health Service for providing free Universal Healthcare for all Brits.
But who would have known that the latest terrorist plot in the UK would involve at least 6 Doctors who were actively employed by the British Health Service.
While the story is still unfolding I'm again amazed by the creativity of the bombers. What better way to inflict mass murder on the United Kingdom than to study medicine for half your life, use your medical degree to get a job in the UK, and then blow yourself up in a car bomb.
It's too soon to say how long these guys had been planning this, but regardless of the outcome it goes to show how much will, determination and patience amongst other things these bombers possess in their quest for revenge on Western powers.

subset: commoncrawl


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Please tell your friends about whatreallyhappened.com !!!
Please tell your friends about whatreallyhappened.com !!!
"One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formally unveiled his plan for Gaza's future after the conflict with Hamas ends, placing a strong emphasis on the "deradicalization" of the Palestinian enclave.
The one-page document titled 'The Day After Hamas" was submitted to the Israeli government for discussion on Thursday, setting out proposed actions for the immediate, medium, and long term.
It reiterates Netanyahu's stance that the Israel Defence Forces will "continue the war until the complete destruction of the military capabilities and governmental infrastructure of Hamas," and until Israeli hostages are returned and a robust security architecture is in place.
Following the Sejm's no-confidence vote, Mateusz Morawiecki's government has left office and the new cabinet along with Prime Minister Donald Tusk were sworn into office on Wednesday. US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O'Brien, expressed his hope that Poland would emerge as a leader in the European Union.
The new Polish government led by Donald Tusk "wants to be seen as even more pro-American than the previous one," Polish politician Konrad Rekas told Sputnik.
"In this respect, indeed, all main political parties in Poland are the undisputed champions of Europe, and perhaps even of the world," the independent commentator said.
Washington recently raised a great fuss over the alleged "Russian threat", citing, in particular, possible space-based nuclear deployments. Moscow shredded the speculations, suggesting that the US is using the rumors as a smokescreen for its own military programs.
Hours after the US press published groundless claims of Russia's space-based nuclear program, the Pentagon sent "a missile-tracking system" into orbit – part of the Department of Defense's new plan dubbed Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture that aims to fill the low-Earth orbit with myriads of small and cheap satellites.
The New York Times broke the Pentagon's new initiative on February 15, explaining that the US military had adopted an approach similar to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite constellation. If America's adversaries knock down even a dozen of those small and cheap Pentagon satellites, the system would continue operating shifting to other units, according to the media outlet. As Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen H. Hicks stated last month, the Pentagon will be able to launch those small cost-effective satellites "almost weekly."
Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recorded explosions very close to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) every day over the past week, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.
"I remain deeply concerned about the nuclear safety and security situation at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, located on the frontline <…>. The reports of our experts indicate possible combat action not far away from the site. Once again, I call on all parties to strictly observe the five concrete principles for the protection of the plant and avoid any attack or military activity that could threaten nuclear safety and security there," Grossi said, as quoted by the IAEA press service.
The IAEA chief pointed out that "IAEA experts stationed at the ZNPP reported hearing explosions every day over the past week," and they were very close to the facility. He urged to restore connection to the 330 kilovolt (kV) back-up power line "as soon as possible."
The United Nations will continue working on Russian and Ukrainian foods and fertilizers being capable of supplies to the global market without restrictions, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine.
"We will also keep pushing for freedom and safety of navigation in the Black Sea and that badly needed Ukrainian and Russian food and fertilizers reached the global market without restrictions," Guterres said.
On the evening of February 23, the Russian Aerospace Forces lost another A-50U long-range radar detection aircraft in the rear region. According to preliminary reports, Russian A-50U was shot down in the Krasnodar region.
The attack took place at about 8 p.m. local time in the Kanevsky district. Footage from the region confirmed that the wreckage of an aircraft fell near the village of Trudovaya Armenia:
The local authorities confirmed that an aircraft fell in the area. As a result of the incident a fire broke out near the village. No civilian facilities were damaged. Civilian casualties were avoided. The type of the aircraft was not officially revealed.
More footage filmed by the local residents showed that the aircraft was shot down by a missile and the crew tried its best to avoid the strike, firing heat flares:
The US and several other Western countries cut funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after Israel claimed that several members of the organization participated in the Hamas attack on October 7. The US intelligence community has "low confidence" in the veracity of the Israeli assertions. The Washington Post reports having evidence of a single UNRWA member in Israel.
In January, Tel Aviv began circulating the claim that 12 members of UNRWA attacked Israel on October 7 and that scores of other members have ties to Hamas. The release of the claims was timed with the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza.
Earlier this month, Tel Aviv released a summary of its intelligence for the assertions to several news outlets. After reviewing the Israeli dossier, multiple outlets reported that Israel had provided no evidence to back the claims that members of UNRWA are aligned with Hamas.
Still, Washington and several other top donors to UNRWA backed Tel Aviv's allegations and cut funding to the agency. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the claims as "highly, highly credible."
UNRWA is the most crucial aid organization to deliver aid to Gaza and prevent the famine from getting worse. In Gaza, one in six children is on the verge of starvation.
The government in Tel Aviv maintains significant power and oversight over UNRWA. The organization provides Israel with a list of all employees annually, and Tel Aviv can demand that UNRWA sever ties with any of its staff.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a US intelligence assessment concluded it had "low confidence" in the Israeli claims. The intel assessment did not dispute all the Israeli claims, "but it provides a more measured appraisal of Israel's assertions than public statements by US and Israeli officials," according to the Journal.
Last week, the Washington Post reported obtaining a video that showed one UNRWA social worker in southern Israel on October 7 and who was seen loading the body of an Israeli into a vehicle. The Post reports matching photos from social media of the UNRWA staff member and his vehicle to CCTV footage from southern Israel
Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla claimed on Thursday that Christians who believe rights are derived from God are "Christian nationalists."
Speaking on MSNBC, Przybyla claimed that former President Donald Trump is surrounding himself with an "extremist element" of Christians, whom she identified as "Christian nationalists."
That's when things got weird. According to Przybyla, there is one belief that all so-called Christian nationalists share.
"[T]he thing that unites them as Christian nationalists — not Christians, by the way, because Christian nationalist is very different — is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don't come from any earthly authority. They don't come from Congress. They don't come to the Supreme Court. They come from God."
A young woman's lament has gone viral after she posted a video on TikTok that she cannot buy "nice things" and even hope to buy a home after earning a college degree.
"Is anyone else just work their ass off for like the three or four last years and now you have a job that you hate and you still can't afford life?" said the TikToker on her account named "placeofpods."
"And you're still f***ing miserable and you can't pay any of your bills and you can't live in a house that you imagine and you just feel lied to because you thought that if you just went to college and got a degree you'd be able to afford a house and like things that make you happy, but you still barely can afford groceries or clothes, or literally anything that makes you happy at all?" she added.
Former Google employee Shaun Maguire revealed Thursday night on Twitter that he was told by Google that he could not be promoted because he's "a white man."
Welcome to the club, I'd say, but its nearly two years to late for that. Ukraine lost the war on February 24 2022, the day the Special Military operation had started.
There never was a chance for Ukraine to win.
I will first let the Colonel recap the established narrative to then add my observations to it:
Two years ago, the Ukrainian Armed Forces defied expectations immediately. Days before Russia's massive combined arms incursion, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley spoke for the U.S. military when he predicted to Congress that Kyiv would fall within 72 hours.
Many military analysts similarly predicted the Russian Armed Forces would quickly rout the overmatched Ukrainians. American leaders encouraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to leave the country, lest Russian troops assassinate him.
These projections of immediate success for Russia misread the progress Ukraine had made in capability and readiness since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. They also overestimated the Russian forces' readiness, air superiority, and command cohesion.
That is all – somewhat – true.
The U.S. is tracking a small, high-altitude balloon that is drifting across the country but poses no threat to national security, U.S. officials and the military said Friday.
CBS News first reported that the military was tracking the balloon as it traversed the Western U.S. earlier in the day. NORAD, the military command responsible for air defense over the U.S. and Canada, later confirmed it had detected the object and said it was floating between 43,000 and 45,000 feet. Its presence prompted enough concern that the command sent aircraft to investigate.
"The balloon was intercepted by NORAD fighters over Utah, who determined it was not maneuverable and did not present a threat to national security. NORAD will continue to track and monitor the balloon," NORAD said in a statement. "The FAA also determined the balloon posed no hazard to flight safety."
One U.S. official told CBS News the balloon was expected to be over Georgia by Friday night. The official said the balloon appeared to be made of Mylar and had a small cube-shaped box, about two feet long on each side, hanging below it. Its origins and purpose remain unknown.
The developments come one year after tensions between the U.S. and China ratcheted to new heights after a Chinese balloon carrying sophisticated spying equipment flew over the continental U.S. for several days.
Israel has released its first draft of its plans for post-war Gaza. Throughout the four months of a brutal onslaught, Israeli forces have decimated the Strip and killed 30,000 Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's post-war plans call for "operational freedom of action in the entire Gaza Strip without a time limit" and "demilitarization" of Palestinians.
The Israeli government first released the document to some media outlets on Thursday. According to the translation from NBC News, the document says, Israel will "maintain its operational freedom of action in the entire Gaza Strip, without a time limit," and "The security perimeter being created in the Gaza Strip on the border with Israel will remain as long as there is a security need for it."
Israel is also requesting control of the border between Egypt and Gaza. Netanyahu's plan may face resistance in Washington and Cairo. Egypt has demanded that Israel not deploy its forces along the border. The US has asked Israel not to expand buffer zones in Gaza. However, Tel Aviv has ignored nearly all of Washington's requests over the past four months with no impact on US aid shipments to Israel.
Netanyahu says he will not allow the rebuilding of the Strip to begin until the Palestinians have been "deradicalized." Additionally, Tel Aviv plans to have complete control over the future political system in Gaza. Netanyahu says the Strip will be fully demilitarized.
It takes money to make money, as the old saying goes, and apparently, it also takes money — as much as $53 million — to give money away.
Earlier this month, The Post broke the story that Mayor Eric Adams is giving out pre-paid cash cards to migrants.
Unusually for the mayor, Adams didn't publicize this story himself, and his administration for nearly a month has failed to correct several public misperceptions about it.
One misperception is that the program allows the city to give out just $50 million to migrants.
No wonder the mayor has been reticent.
This debit card program — if you read the actual contract — has the potential to become an open-ended, multibillion-dollar Bermuda Triangle of disappearing, untraceable cash, used for any purpose.
It will give migrants up to $10,000 each in taxpayer money with no ID check, no restrictions and no fraud control.
An international group promoting vaccines with ties to the Gates Foundation in going after memes. Whatever could make more sense?
But things here aren't as haphazard as they might seem. Bill Gates is known, and rich, for two things: as the founder of one of the most oppressive (in terms of design, security, and historically predatory toward free-as-in-freedom competing technology) companies ever – Microsoft.
And the other is Gates – now as a billionaire – reinventing himself through his "uncanny valley" philanthropic efforts, centered and emanating from his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and focusing by and large on all sorts of vaccines, and – agriculture.
One of those involved, the GAVI Vaccine Alliance (that gets money from Gates) now wants to reframe memes – internet's succinct expression of humor and satire – as "health disinformation super-spreaders."
And we've heard this one before – this genre, that, in the digital age, might as well be considered as any other artistic format in previous times, is said to be capable of evading "fact checkers and content moderators" (i.e., censors).
In previous eras and authoritarian states, that would get the books with imagery and words characteristic of memes banned or burned.
So what could be the solution in the current era? And what does the big picture amount to?
Well, it's just Bill Gates going after a free and open internet again, only by other means – cynics might say.
But here's what a blog post on GAVI's site says: "Our research shows that memes form part of a highly sophisticated strategy to spread and monetize health disinformation."
(Not throwing the "monetize slur" in there – in the context of "the Gates!" /s)
When the "research" is done – (including assertions such as that memes falsely "depicted unvaccinated people as unfairly stigmatized" – well tell that to tennis superstar Novak Djokovic who almost got his career ruined by actual unfair stigmatization) – come the conclusions:
"Influencers promoting vaccine hesitancy use memes to build their online following, sow distrust of health authorities and profit from the promotion of unapproved medicines. This enables them to evade responsibility for any negative consequences of their messaging."
There's a "call to action" too, basically – to formally criminalize memes.
Says GAVI: "Memes may not look threatening – but that's why they are such effective super spreaders of health disinformation."
Many migrants arriving in major metro areas like New York City or smaller towns throughout the US do so through assistance from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including charities and faith-based nonprofits that taxpayers fund.
Last month, journalist James O'Keefe uncovered a "shadowy network of secretive nonprofits" (some of which are funded by taxpayers) that are facilitating the invasion of illegals on the southern border.
Now GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin is on X, pointing out the role of NGOs in facilitating the border invasion. He shared a video of what appears to be NGOs smuggling migrants over the southern border and, in doing so, breaking federal immigration laws:
Across rural America, the expanding crisis of fentanyl-fueled overdoses is ravaging a generation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl deaths in the U.S. have tripled since 2016, and initial data from 2022 indicates that synthetic opioids cause about 90% of all opioid overdose deaths – which translates to nearly 75,000 Americans killed in that year alone. Rural communities, where hundreds of hospitals have already closed and more are on the chopping block, are bearing the additional weight of overdoses. We need states to do more to protect Americans and ensure access to all overdose reversal agents that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Hidden in counterfeit prescription pharmaceuticals like Adderall, Xanax, and Oxycontin, it's so lethal that just two milligrams, the size of a pencil tip, can kill.
One of the most devastating aspects of synthetic opioids is that they may stay in the system longer than legacy overdose agents used to try and save lives. That means multiple doses of reversal agents are required, if first responders even have them on hand.
The flood of fentanyl coming into our country is overwhelming. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security's 2024 Threat Assessment states that illegal drugs produced in Mexico and sold in the United States will continue to kill more Americans than any other threat. Fentanyl has even been called a weapon of mass destruction by frontline leaders in U.S. Customs and Border Protection policy, the Postal Service, Homeland Security, and public health.
Without access to the most effective resources, more Americans will die unnecessarily from fentanyl – even as new FDA-approved medicines to save lives become available. We need to address the sources of these dangerous substances, but also equip communities to respond. Unfortunately, on both fronts, we have come up short
A startup focused on developing general-purpose humanoids has attracted investments from Jeff Bezos, Nvidia Corp., and other major tech companies in its most recent funding round amid the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence bubble.
People familiar with the investing round told Bloomberg that Figure AI - backed by OpenAI and Microsoft Corp - is raising $675 million, with a pre-money valuation of approximately $2 billion. They said Bezo's firm, Explore Investments LLC, has committed $100 million. Microsoft has committed $95 million, while Nvidia and Amazon plan $50 million each.
The funding round is not yet complete, and the amounts could change, with the possibility that the deals could still fall apart.
Figure's AI-powered robot appears very similar in design to the Terminator assassin robot in the early 1990s film "Terminator."
One state prosecutor and one civilian plaintiff have already won huge fines and damages from Donald Trump that may, with legal costs, exceed $500 million.
Trump awaits further civil and criminal liability in three other federal, state, and local indictments.
There are eerie commonalities in all these five court cases involving plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, federal special counsel Jack Smith, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.
One, they are either unapologetically left-wing or associated with liberal causes.
They filed their legal writs in big-city, left-wing America—Atlanta, New York, Washington—where liberal judges and jury pools predominate in a manner not characteristic of the country at large.
Two, they are overtly political.
Bragg, James, and Willis have either campaigned for office or raised campaign funds by promising to get or even destroy Donald Trump.
Carroll's suit was funded by left-wing billionaire Reid Hoffman.
Smith sued to rush his court schedule in hopes of putting Trump on trial before the November election.
Three, there would not be any of these cases had Donald Trump not run for the presidency or not been a conservative.
Carroll's suit bypassed statute of limitation restrictions by prompting the intervention of a left-wing New York legislator. He passed a special bill, allowing a one-year window to waive the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims from decades past.
Until Trump, no New York prosecutor like James had ever filed a civil suit against a business for allegedly overvaluing real estate assets to obtain loans that bank auditors approved and were paid back in full, on time, and with sizable interest profits to the lending institutions.
Alvin Bragg bootstrapped a Trump private non-disclosure agreement into a federal campaign violation in a desperate effort to find something on Trump.
Smith is also charging Trump with insurrectionary activity. But Trump had never been so charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it.
Willis strained to find a way to criminalize Trump's complaints about his loss of Georgia in the 2020 national election. She finally came up with a racketeering charge, usually more applicable to mafiosi and drug cartels.
Four, in all these cases, the charges could have been equally applicable to fellow left-wing public figures and officials.
A New York jury found National Rifle Association (NRA) boss Wayne LaPierre liable in a civil case on Friday, ordering him to pay $4.3 million in damages for the mismanagement and misuse of charitable funds.
The verdict concludes a trial in the civil lawsuit brought by the Democratic Attorney General Letitia James of New York, accusing Mr. LaPierre of questionable financial practices during his tenure from 2014 to 2022.
The jury found that Mr. LaPierre violated his fiduciary duties, causing $5.4 million in damages to the NRA.
Notably, they recognized that he had repaid just over $1 million to the charity, which reduced the net damages.
In addition to the financial penalty, the jury determined that Mr. LaPierre should be removed from his position as executive vice president of the gun rights group.
The Manhattan jury found that Mr. LaPierre had misused millions of dollars from the organization's funds to make personal luxury purchases over a span of 30 years.
The jury did not find Mr. LaPierre liable for breaking laws against self-dealing regarding a post-employment contract with the NRA, valued at over $17 million. They found that the arrangement had been properly approved in advance by the NRA board.
Despite Mr. LaPierre's recent resignation, the judge will now decide whether to permanently bar him from any future leadership roles within the NRA in an upcoming bench trial.
Jury deliberations in the case began on Feb. 16
For those of us born in the 80s, the name "Mariel" doesn't say much. But after a little research, we find out that there is yet another cycle repeating itself: criminals entering massively to the US from a country deeply linked to Eastern foreign powers and with close ties to rogue nations.
If a regular citizen finds difficulties in leaving the country legally through a border (confiscation of little green thingies that uniforms love, for instance), it is hard to understand how criminals that were supposedly in jail in Venezuela end up appearing in places as far as Miami.
My thoughts?
There are two methods a criminal could bypass the safety measures in a border. One, they are impersonating some of their victims of former crimes with stolen IDs.
As sinister as it sounds, finding someone resembling them and using their IDs to get out of Dodge, mixing up with the crowd crossing is not that hard these days. People disappear in Venezuela regularly without any trace. Leaving a few dead doppelgangers behind and taking their IDs shouldn't be that hard for someone with the scruples to do.
The migration authorities usually don't have the means to verify fingerprints in these small border towns, and they issue temporary residence or transit-only permits, knowing that they leave the border soon and won't stay being a nuisance. On the other hand, there is another option to ponder. If the intention of sending criminals is seriously adopted by any government holding a grip on their ID system, it would not be a problem to re-issue a new identity document with a new name, keeping the same fingerprints and any other biometric data. You have had an article about this on your website before.
The next questions are surely what is in the minds of everyone reading this. Is somebody paying for all this? Or organizing it? And if so, why?
To determine the answer, historical data has to be reviewed. This is not anything new and there is already a precedent that many politicians have tried to sweep under the rug: Castro's threat of the "Plan Bravo" in the middle 1990s. After all, he already had sent close to 8000 convicts camouflaged as "immigrants" at the beginning of the 1980s.
This news seems to be forgotten now: Venezuelan passports were being sold at the embassy in Iraq (there is an English version in this link) and the much more recent detention of Jihad members in Argentina.
I have seen plenty of videos with interviews of people traveling to the US by foot. I have noticed this: most of them are healthy young men in their 20s and physically fit. Not all of them are going to the shelters to avoid being screened by the migration authorities. On the contrary, very possibly they are lying low and integrating into some sort of network already in place.
In one of those interviews, the man commented something that has been in my head ever since. "The US is going to be very different soon".
Whether he's a psychic with a crystal ball, or he attended some type of briefing and he's on a mission. The impact of so many people roaming on the streets may not look too much. But what will happen when (not "if," but WHEN) the sleepers attend the call to generate turmoil on a country-wide scale?
Sure, many of you will say, "That's why we have our 2nd Amendment".
Trust me, you will hardly find someone to shoot at. They won't engage in direct conflict. Albeit I'm not a military analyst by any means, their target is very likely infrastructure and psyops on the society. Be very vigilant of water reservoirs.
Violent crime, increasing in number and frequency, could start overnight now.
Do you remember the recent 2019 turmoils in Chile? All of it was organized and executed by the leftist wing. These migrants from countries with regimes that are hostile towards the US should be carefully screened. The consequences could be very high in the near future
Sander van der Linden's webpage at Cambridge University says he is an esteemed academic, with prior positions at Princeton and Yale, and has published studies on social influence misinformation, and fake news that place him among the top 1% of all social researchers and the top 2% across all of science.
Pretty much every major media outlet—the New York Times, BBC, CNN, The Economist, NPR, the Washington Post and NBC Nightly News—has interviewed van der Linden about his research, while his book "FOOLPROOF: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity" received wide praise.
But a month back, he climbed down from his lofty academic perch and picked a fight on X with writer Nate Silver and … Professor van der Linden got crushed: exposed as a liar and a quack who spreads misinformation while editing his personal Wikipedia page for the last decade through various single purpose accounts (SPAs) or sock puppets, to burnish his credentials and promote himself and his research.
"We are still getting numerous SPAs on this topic," one Wikipedia editors noted about Sander van der Linden's biography. "Nothing has changed, except they've gotten better at not getting caught."
Examined in detail, the van der Linden episode highlights growing evidence that "misinformation research" is just politics dressed up in academic garb to suppress and censor dissent on controversial topics.
In 2021, an estimated 6.6 percent of U.S. adults were immunosuppressed. "This rate of immunosuppression was higher than the previous national estimate of 2.7 percent using the 2013 [National Health Interview Survey]," the authors wrote in their paper.
The researchers estimated immunosuppression prevalence by analyzing National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) results.
Specifically, the authors analyzed responses to five questions. Over 29,000 individuals were asked if they had a health condition or were taking medication or treatments that would weaken their immune system. They were also asked if they had cancer or malignancy, the type of cancer, and their age at the time of cancer diagnosis.
In 2013, over 34,000 people were interviewed, garnering a response from 75 percent of households. In 2021, only about half of the households contacted responded to the survey.
"Given the documented increase in immunosuppression, studies are needed to understand the causes for this increase," the authors wrote. However, they mentioned that the rise in self-reported immunosuppression may be due to increased use of immunosuppressive medications.
The use of adalimumab, a drug used to treat autoimmune conditions, has increased 3.5-fold between 2014 and 2021.
That the U.S. President Joseph Biden, his British, NATO, Israeli allies, and their corporate media mouthpieces are in need of a major propaganda victory is obvious. They are losing the war in Ukraine, have been condemned throughout the world for the genocide in Gaza, and are ruling over a disintegrating empire. Biden and Netanyahu's political lives are at serious risk. And so they have just rolled out a full-court propaganda press effort aimed at covering their losses. It should be crystal clear to anyone who can use logic to see the timing involved.
The great French scholar of propaganda and technology, Jacques Ellul, wrote years ago that propaganda "is not the touch of a magic wand. It is based on slow constant impregnation. It creates convictions and compliance through imperceptible influences that are effective only by continuous repetition."
However, once this groundwork has been laid over time – as it has been with the continuous anti-Russia Putin hysteria and support for Israel's Zionist policies – it can be intensely ratcheted up in exigent circumstances when the long-serving narrative is in jeopardy, such as it is now.
Once the death in a Russian prison of the Western backed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was announced on Friday, February 16, 2024, it was immediately followed by a cascade of anti-Russia pronouncements whose aim was to not only continue the demonization of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin but to serve other purposes as well.
With one fell stroke, the calm history lesson about Ukraine, Russia, and U.S./NATO that Putin had just delivered to the world via Tucker Carlson disappeared down the memory hole, as Biden, without any evidence, declared that "Putin and his thugs" and Putin's "brutality" are responsible for Navalny's death.
This, of course, is a replay of the false charges sans evidence waged against Russia for an earlier poisoning of Navalny, the Skripals (since disappeared by the British government), Alexander Litvinenko, et al.


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Compact Engine Offers Quiet, Clean Power
March 27, 1995
Boise, ID- With the Environmental Protection Agency's emissions standards for 1996 calling for cleaner industrial engines, designers are scrambling for replacements. One candidate is the Stirling Engine, which was patented in 1816 by Robert Stirling, a young Scottish minister.
The Stirling engine requires no carburetor, muffler, valve springs, valves, lifters, camshaft, or complex ignition system. Stirlings are also known for their easy starting in any climate. Unlike internal combustion engines, they are not affected by altitude. But current Stirling engines are too bulky for portable applications. The power of external combustion engines is directly proportional to the heating and cooling surface areas that drive their internal working fluid. To compete in the utility market, the Stirling engine must become more compact, yet possess enough heating and cooling surface area to provide adequate power.
Addressing these issues, this new version of the classic Stirling Engine resembles the basic layout of utility engines in use today. Called by its inventor the Stirling-Steele Engine, it increases the heating and cooling surface area of the original Stirling design and, hence, its power output. "Rather than using one cylinder, the total engine capacity is divided among four smaller cylinders," says designer Ronald Steele. "In effect, each cylinder is a separate Stirling engine with each engine in one of the four cyclic states of a single large engine."
This design change simplifies the dual-piston design of the Stirling engine, and the total surface area around the four smaller chambers is greater than than in a classic Stirling. The increase raises the engine's power-critical heating and cooling capability. Also, operating the four cylinders in a cycle helps reduce vibration and noise.
In the original Stirling design a sealed power piston translates the expanding heated air into mechanical power. A second, loosely fitted piston-called a displacer piston-shuttles the working gas back and forth between the heater and cooler. Both pistons, the only moving parts in the engine other than the crankshaft, are sealed inside a common chamber. They run 90 degrees out of phase with one another. In an engine where they run parallel to each other, the pistons require two throws on a crank to drive them.
To simplify the drive for his engine, Steele attached the drive rod of each of four displacers to the top of each of four power pistons and placed a sealed bulkhead between them. Next, he ported
Other Applications |
each displacer cylinder to the power-piston cylinder phased 90 degrees behind it. "Now the engine only requires one crank throw per piston, " explains Steele, "whereas before I needed a total of eight. This design reduces the overall engine size greatly, but also creates the need for a very compact drive."
Steele uses a series of miter gears in place of a crankshaft to fold the four inline pistons into a box shape. Their back faces hold crank pins that drive connecting rods attached to the power pistons. Extensions off the crank pins direct power to the output shafts, creating an opportunity to use multiple output shafts from the four sides of the motor.
The cooling system for Steele's engine is air-driven by a centrifugal fan, directed by a shroud through an array of fins in the engine body. "My goal was to construct an engine that closely resembles existing small utility engines, so I used a familiar cooling system," says Steele. He set up the engine to operate on propane fuel, and designed a stainless steel catalytic burner that operates much like catalytic space heaters used in camping equipment. His prototype engine stands 10 inches high, weighs 5.25 lbs, and offers a maximum output of 40W.
Additional details...Contact Ronald Steele, 4612 Fremont St., Boise, ID 83706, (208) 336-9040.
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I didn't want you to forget or anything.
So I'm going to tell you a story. A story of the Polar Plunge.
Love for Chicago
I live in and love the Chicagoland area. I'd tell you I live in Chicago, but then those Chicago-proper people would be all, "What neighborhood?" And I would tell them, "Suburbia." And then I'd get a lot of shit because, "That's not Chicago." But to most of you…it is. So whatever.
But Chicago is cold and I despise the cold. Chicago has snow and I really don't like that either. But Chicago has character and my family and food and culture and so many things that you just can't find anywhere else. So I'll never leave. The suburbs. Even when it's cold and I do crazy stupid things like run into Lake Michigan in the middle of winter…
The Polar Plunge
For years, I saw pictures of the Polar Plunge. I longed to participate. But I was scared. I didn't know if I could do it alone. FINALLY, 3 years ago, I befriended someone who encouraged me. She told me I was brave when I didn't think I was. She told me I was awesome. But best of all, she told me that she'd do it with me. My pal and I raced into (and out of) the VERY cold Lake Michigan in the early days of March 2011.
And I swore that I would do it every year for as long as I am able.
Sure, it's FUCKING cold. Sure, it's FUCKING crazy. But the Polar Plunge is an amazing thing. Because there's this rush that you get. It's hard to explain, but it's almost as cool as free-falling. The adrenaline, the hype, the excitement, the fear…it's all a part of the game.
The first time, I didn't know what to expect. It was exciting just to be there. We ran into the water, and there was a circle of EMTs protecting us from going any farther out into the choppy water and making sure that everyone was alright.
Imagine this…
You'd think that safety was the only thing that the EMTs were there for. Unless you were in the water with them. And their warm we-can't-feel-the-cold-through-our-awesome-pants pants. And then you would growl at them unexpectedly. And they would say to you, "GO UNDER! YOU'VE COME THIS FAR! JUST GO ALL THE WAY IN!"
And not being one to turn at the idea of a dare and especially a dare that involved heavy goading…You drop yourself underwater. After promising yourself that you wouldn't…because the last time your head went into Lake Michigan, you had a nasty ear infection that SUCKED. But this time you didn't get an ear infection. You did feel a crazy rush though. The minute your chest went under water, something happened.
The cold hits you like a pile of bricks. The air is sucked out of you. No matter how many cold showers you purposefully took leading up to this moment could prepare you. But you did it. And you ROCKED it. And it ROCKED you. You come up for air with a new light. And you run. You race out of the water. You run for warmth. And it's over. In a matter of minutes, it's come and gone. And you're that much better for doing it.
Polar Plunge: Cold for a Cause
Because not only is this awesome event an amazing thing in it of itself, the Polar Plunge raises money for the Special Olympics Chicago. Having known someone who not only participated in the Special Olympics, but also made it all the way to the championship in Ireland many years ago AND won a gold medal, I feel that it is most definitely a worthy cause.
The money that is raised goes to programming and events for the Special Olympics, which helps build confidence, leadership, teamwork, and friendship among people who need it most. So if you've got a dollar or two to spare, would you be willing to donate it to the Special Olympics Chicago? I'll be heading back into Lake Michigan on March 3, and your support will help those wonderful people who work so hard as Special Olympics athletes. If you can't spare a dollar, could you share this post with your friends or family?


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Jeremy Lin begins workouts with Houston Rockets
HOUSTON— Jeremy Lin is finally getting his own bed.
The 6-foot-3 point guard, who became an international phenomenon during one dazzling month with the Knicks last season, went through his first workout with the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
Naturally, he drew a horde of media to the Toyota Center, evidence that Linsanity has plenty of life left in it.
"I don't know if I'm the face of the franchise just yet," Lin said. "I think we're a young team and we're all going to buy in. The thing about us is it's not going to be any one person that's going to carry us to where we want to go, it's going to be everybody. I think it's so early on, I'm just trying to get to know the guys."
Lin was waived by the Rockets last December, then picked up by the Knicks. He was hesitant to buy a home and slept on teammate Landry Fields' couch the night before his breakout game against New Jersey on Feb. 4.
Lin signed a three-year, $25 million contract with Houston over the summer. He arrived on Monday – but first asked teammate Chandler Parsons if he could "crash" on his couch until he bought furniture.
He finally feels secure enough to settle down.
"I've got to get that bed in there, so I can sleep well tonight," Lin said.
The Rockets acquired Lin over the summer by outmaneuvering the Knicks in free agency.
New York coach Mike Woodson said the team would match any offer to re-sign Lin and he would be the starter heading into training camp preceding this season. Lin originally signed a four-year, $28.8 million offer sheet with the Rockets, but the team revised its offer and made it three years and $25 million, with much of the guaranteed salary earmarked for the third year.
The extra money would've pushed the Knicks over the luxury-tax threshold in 2014-15, so New York backed off.
The Rockets held Lin's introductory press conference on a stage on the practice floor at the Toyota Center to accommodate a huge media throng. Lin is American-born, but his maternal grandmother is from China and he has Taiwanese parents, so the event also drew a large contingent of Asian media.
Lin toured Asia this summer, running a four-day basketball camp in Beijing and visiting Taiwan for the first time. He's also had the chance over the past few months to catch his breath and reflect on his whirlwind rise to worldwide stardom.
"Every once a while, I'll take a look back and just be like, 'I can't believe this is happening,'" Lin said. "I had one of those moments this morning, in the training room, with the big Houston Rockets logo. It was just like, I was just appreciating the fact that I get to wake up and play basketball for a living. And even the whole NBA thing, yes Houston, (but) just (to) be able to play basketball for your job, like those are things I remind myself of every day."
The Rockets, meanwhile, were just happy to get Lin back after releasing him in training camp with Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic ahead of him on the roster. The Knicks claimed Lin off waivers two days after Christmas, and he was put at the end of their depth chart at point guard.
Lin was briefly relegated to the developmental league, then recalled when Baron Davis postponed his return from a herniated disk in his back. That's when Linsanity exploded.
The undrafted free agent out of Harvard became the first player in league history to average 20 points and seven assists in his first five games. He scored 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers one night, then drained a game-winning 3-pointer against Toronto on another, and helped the Knicks rally for an eventual playoff berth.
Lin seemed to be a perfect fit for Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo system, but D'Antoni resigned in mid-March. Lin's numbers dipped and the Knicks revealed on April 1 that Lin needed surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee and would miss six weeks.
Lin recuperated in his native California and said Tuesday that he was back playing basketball within two months. He dunked for the first time since his surgery in July, continued to train and says he's shed 10 pounds since last season.
"I feel good, I feel healthy," he said. "I feel lighter. I'm excited."
The Rockets, entirely rebuilt after a flurry of offseason moves, have their practice on Oct. 1. They'll spend their first full week of training camp in Rio Grande Valley, home of their developmental league affiliate, and will play Oklahoma City there on Oct. 10.
Lin met most of his new teammates for the first time on Tuesday. While Lin has had a most unusual NBA career already, he's still only 24 and acknowledges that he still has a lot to learn.
"Last year, I actually had a real season under my belt, where I got to play and see what works and doesn't work," he said. "Definitely, you want to lead by example, more so this year than last year, or the year before, coming in as a non-guaranteed guy. Now, there's more stability, so I need to be more of a vocal leader and hopefully lead through work ethic and example."


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The neoliberal assault on academia |
The neoliberal sacking of the universities runs much deeper than tuition hikes and budget cuts, notes Barkawi. Last Modified: 25 Apr 2013 08:30
The New York Times, Slate and Al Jazeera have recently drawn attention to the adjunctification of the professoriate in the US. Only 24 per cent of the academic workforce are now tenured or tenure-track.
Much of the coverage has focused on the sub-poverty wages of adjunct faculty, their lack of job security and the growing legions of unemployed and under-employed PhDs. Elsewhere, the focus has been on web-based learning and the massive open online courses (MOOCs), with some commentators celebrating and others lamenting their arrival.
The two developments are not unrelated. Harvard recently asked its alumni to volunteer their time as "online mentors" and "discussion group managers" for an online course. Fewer professors and fewer qualified – or even paid – teaching assistants will be required in higher education's New Order.
Lost amid the fetishisation of information technology and the pathos of the struggle over proper working conditions for adjunct faculty is the deeper crisis of the academic profession occasioned by neoliberalism. This crisis is connected to the economics of higher education but it is not primarily about that.
The neoliberal sacking of the universities runs much deeper than tuition fee hikes and budget cuts.
Thatcherite budget-cutting exercise
The professions are in part defined by the fact that they are self-governing and self-regulating. For many years now, the professoriate has not only been ceding power to a neoliberal managerial class, but has in many cases been actively collaborating with it.
As a dose of shock capitalism, the 2008 financial crisis accelerated processes already well underway. In successive waves, the crisis has hit each pillar of the American university system. The initial stock market crash blasted the endowments of the prestige private universities. Before long, neoliberal ideologues and their disastrous austerity policies undermined state and eventually federal funding for universities and their research.
Tuition soared and students turned even more to debt financing. Now that bubble is bursting and hitting all the institutions of higher education that depend on tuition. Students are increasingly unwilling to take on massive debt for jobs they have little confidence of getting.
The upshot is to soften the resistance of faculty to change, in part by making people fear for their jobs but mostly by creating a generalised sense of crisis. It becomes all the easier for some academic "leaders" to be drawn up into the recurrent task of "reinventing" the university.
Here is the intersection with neoliberal management culture. Neoliberal managers thrive not by bringing in new resources – since austerity is always the order of the day – but by constantly rearranging the deck chairs. Each manager seeks to reorganise and restructure in order to leave his or her mark. They depart for the next lucrative job before the ship goes under.
One consequence is the mania for mergers of departments and faculties in the US and the UK. In both the university and corporate world, mergers are not only demoralising for staff, but they also break up solidarities and destroy traditions and make staff much more amenable to control from above.
Such projects have little to do with academic excellence or even purposes, and often are self-defeating as the managers and the quislings among the professoriate who assist them have little idea what they are doing.
One of the only things the University of Birmingham was ever known for in the wider world was its Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. In 2002, the Centre was shut down by fiat in an act of vandalism described as "restructuring". The justification given for this was yet another neoliberal exercise then known as the Research Assessment Exercise, or RAE.
US universities to consider |
In US terms, post-tenure review is an imperfect analogy for the salutary and depressing tale of the RAE. Invented by Margaret Thatcher's government, the basic idea is to rank all the departments in any one discipline and channel funding to the "best" departments, while cutting funding to the rest. The RAE was an assault on the basic idea of a university – the universe of knowledge – since universities would lose poor performing departments.
In neoliberal speak, this may sound very sensible. But imagine what happens to, say, physics and biology students, when, as the University of Exeter did, the chemistry department is shut down. Who will teach them chemistry?
More to the point, how do you judge which is "best"? For this, the RAE needed the willing and active collaboration of the professoriate.
When I first held a UK academic post in the relatively early days of the RAE in the late 1990s, academics talked about it as if it were just some form they had to fill out, an annoying bureaucratic exercise that would not really affect us. Others, academic "leaders", saw it as an opportunity to do down their colleagues in other universities and channel funds to their own departments.
Neoliberal assault on the universities
In this way, the professors themselves helped to administer and legitimate a Thatcherite budget-cutting exercise. Worse, they participated in what they know to be a fiction: that you can rank scholarly research like you can restaurants or hotels so as to determine which departments have the "best" faculty.
Little more than a decade later – and now known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF) – this five-yearly exercise completely dominates UK academic life. It determines hiring patterns, career progression, and status and duties within departments. It organises the research projects of individual scholars so as to meet arbitrary deadlines. It has created space for a whole class of paid consultants who rank scholarship and assist in putting together REF returns.
UK academics regularly talk about each other's work in terms of whether this or that book or article is "three star" or "four star". Again, for those attuned to neoliberal ways of thinking, this may appear natural. But remember that the entire point of university research is conversation and contestation over what is true and right. In the natural sciences, as in the social sciences and humanities, one person's truth is another person's tosh, and valid knowledge emerges from the clash of many different perspectives.
Somehow, UK professors have become intimately bound up in administering and legitimating a government-run exercise that now shapes more of university life than they themselves do. They have actively ceded their power.
US faculty need to keep this travesty in mind.
Something as apparently innocuous as an accreditation agency demanding that syllabi be written in a particular format, or majors justified in a particular way, can wind up empowering university management to intimately regulate teaching. A meaningless buzzword in the mouth of a dean, such as "new majority student", might in practice help legitimate the hiring of less qualified faculty. After all, if "teacher ownership of content" is old fashioned, why do you need to hire a professor who can create his or her own course?
The bottom line of the neoliberal assault on the universities is the increasing power of management and the undermining of faculty self-governance. The real story behind MOOCs may be the ways in which they assist management restructuring efforts of core university practices, under the smiley-faced banner of "open access" and assisted in some cases by their "superstar", camera-ready professors.
Meanwhile, all those adjunct faculty are far more subject to managerial control and regulation than are tenured professors. Aside from their low cost, that is one of the principal reasons why they are so attractive to university managers.
Tarak Barkawi is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, New School for Social Research.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.


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- United Kingdom
Ian Bartrop
Locations:United Kingdom
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I have two items about brainlike computing. The first item hearkens back to memristors, a topic I have been following since 2008. (If you're curious about the various twists and turns just enter the term 'memristor' in this blog's search engine.) The latest on memristors is from a team than includes IBM (US), École Politechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL; Swizterland), and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT; US). The second bit comes from a Jülich Research Centre team in Germany and concerns an approach to brain-like computing that does not include memristors.
Multi-memristive synapses
In the inexorable march to make computers function more like human brains (neuromorphic engineering/computing), an international team has announced its latest results in a July 10, 2018 news item on Nanowerk,
Two New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) researchers, working with collaborators from the IBM Research Zurich Laboratory and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, have demonstrated a novel synaptic architecture that could lead to a new class of information processing systems inspired by the brain.
The findings are an important step toward building more energy-efficient computing systems that also are capable of learning and adaptation in the real world. …
A July 10, 2018 NJIT news release (also on EurekAlert) by Tracey Regan, which originated by the news item, adds more details,
The researchers, Bipin Rajendran, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and S. R. Nandakumar, a graduate student in electrical engineering, have been developing brain-inspired computing systems that could be used for a wide range of big data applications.
Over the past few years, deep learning algorithms have proven to be highly successful in solving complex cognitive tasks such as controlling self-driving cars and language understanding. At the heart of these algorithms are artificial neural networks – mathematical models of the neurons and synapses of the brain – that are fed huge amounts of data so that the synaptic strengths are autonomously adjusted to learn the intrinsic features and hidden correlations in these data streams.
However, the implementation of these brain-inspired algorithms on conventional computers is highly inefficient, consuming huge amounts of power and time. This has prompted engineers to search for new materials and devices to build special-purpose computers that can incorporate the algorithms. Nanoscale memristive devices, electrical components whose conductivity depends approximately on prior signaling activity, can be used to represent the synaptic strength between the neurons in artificial neural networks.
While memristive devices could potentially lead to faster and more power-efficient computing systems, they are also plagued by several reliability issues that are common to nanoscale devices. Their efficiency stems from their ability to be programmed in an analog manner to store multiple bits of information; however, their electrical conductivities vary in a non-deterministic and non-linear fashion.
In the experiment, the team showed how multiple nanoscale memristive devices exhibiting these characteristics could nonetheless be configured to efficiently implement artificial intelligence algorithms such as deep learning. Prototype chips from IBM containing more than one million nanoscale phase-change memristive devices were used to implement a neural network for the detection of hidden patterns and correlations in time-varying signals.
"In this work, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a scheme to obtain high learning efficiencies with nanoscale memristive devices for implementing learning algorithms," Nandakumar says. "The central idea in our demonstration was to use several memristive devices in parallel to represent the strength of a synapse of a neural network, but only chose one of them to be updated at each step based on the neuronal activity."
Here's a link to and a citation for the paper,
Neuromorphic computing with multi-memristive synapses by Irem Boybat, Manuel Le Gallo, S. R. Nandakumar, Timoleon Moraitis, Thomas Parnell, Tomas Tuma, Bipin Rajendran, Yusuf Leblebici, Abu Sebastian, & Evangelos Eleftheriou. Nature Communications volume 9, Article number: 2514 (2018) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04933-y Published 28 June 2018
This is an open access paper.
Also they've got a couple of very nice introductory paragraphs which I'm including here, (from the June 28, 2018 paper in Nature Communications; Note: Links have been removed),
The human brain with less than 20 W of power consumption offers a processing capability that exceeds the petaflops mark, and thus outperforms state-of-the-art supercomputers by several orders of magnitude in terms of energy efficiency and volume. Building ultra-low-power cognitive computing systems inspired by the operating principles of the brain is a promising avenue towards achieving such efficiency. Recently, deep learning has revolutionized the field of machine learning by providing human-like performance in areas, such as computer vision, speech recognition, and complex strategic games1. However, current hardware implementations of deep neural networks are still far from competing with biological neural systems in terms of real-time information-processing capabilities with comparable energy consumption.
One of the reasons for this inefficiency is that most neural networks are implemented on computing systems based on the conventional von Neumann architecture with separate memory and processing units. There are a few attempts to build custom neuromorphic hardware that is optimized to implement neural algorithms2,3,4,5. However, as these custom systems are typically based on conventional silicon complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuitry, the area efficiency of such hardware implementations will remain relatively low, especially if in situ learning and non-volatile synaptic behavior have to be incorporated. Recently, a new class of nanoscale devices has shown promise for realizing the synaptic dynamics in a compact and power-efficient manner. These memristive devices store information in their resistance/conductance states and exhibit conductivity modulation based on the programming history6,7,8,9. The central idea in building cognitive hardware based on memristive devices is to store the synaptic weights as their conductance states and to perform the associated computational tasks in place.
The two essential synaptic attributes that need to be emulated by memristive devices are the synaptic efficacy and plasticity. …
It gets more complicated from there.
Now onto the next bit.
At a guess, those capitalized N's are meant to indicate 'neural networks'. As best I can determine, SpiNNaker is not based on the memristor. Moving on, a July 11, 2018 news item on phys.org announces work from a team examining how neuromorphic hardware and neuromorphic software work together,
A computer built to mimic the brain's neural networks produces similar results to that of the best brain-simulation supercomputer software currently used for neural-signaling research, finds a new study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. Tested for accuracy, speed and energy efficiency, this custom-built computer named SpiNNaker, has the potential to overcome the speed and power consumption problems of conventional supercomputers. The aim is to advance our knowledge of neural processing in the brain, to include learning and disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease.
A July 11, 2018 Frontiers Publishing news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, expands on the latest work,
"SpiNNaker can support detailed biological models of the cortex–the outer layer of the brain that receives and processes information from the senses–delivering results very similar to those from an equivalent supercomputer software simulation," says Dr. Sacha van Albada, lead author of this study and leader of the Theoretical Neuroanatomy group at the Jülich Research Centre, Germany. "The ability to run large-scale detailed neural networks quickly and at low power consumption will advance robotics research and facilitate studies on learning and brain disorders."
The human brain is extremely complex, comprising 100 billion interconnected brain cells. We understand how individual neurons and their components behave and communicate with each other and on the larger scale, which areas of the brain are used for sensory perception, action and cognition. However, we know less about the translation of neural activity into behavior, such as turning thought into muscle movement.
Supercomputer software has helped by simulating the exchange of signals between neurons, but even the best software run on the fastest supercomputers to date can only simulate 1% of the human brain.
"It is presently unclear which computer architecture is best suited to study whole-brain networks efficiently. The European Human Brain Project and Jülich Research Centre have performed extensive research to identify the best strategy for this highly complex problem. Today's supercomputers require several minutes to simulate one second of real time, so studies on processes like learning, which take hours and days in real time are currently out of reach." explains Professor Markus Diesmann, co-author, head of the Computational and Systems Neuroscience department at the Jülich Research Centre.
He continues, "There is a huge gap between the energy consumption of the brain and today's supercomputers. Neuromorphic (brain-inspired) computing allows us to investigate how close we can get to the energy efficiency of the brain using electronics."
Developed over the past 15 years and based on the structure and function of the human brain, SpiNNaker — part of the Neuromorphic Computing Platform of the Human Brain Project — is a custom-built computer composed of half a million of simple computing elements controlled by its own software. The researchers compared the accuracy, speed and energy efficiency of SpiNNaker with that of NEST–a specialist supercomputer software currently in use for brain neuron-signaling research.
"The simulations run on NEST and SpiNNaker showed very similar results," reports Steve Furber, co-author and Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Manchester, UK. "This is the first time such a detailed simulation of the cortex has been run on SpiNNaker, or on any neuromorphic platform. SpiNNaker comprises 600 circuit boards incorporating over 500,000 small processors in total. The simulation described in this study used just six boards–1% of the total capability of the machine. The findings from our research will improve the software to reduce this to a single board."
Van Albada shares her future aspirations for SpiNNaker, "We hope for increasingly large real-time simulations with these neuromorphic computing systems. In the Human Brain Project, we already work with neuroroboticists who hope to use them for robotic control."
Before getting to the link and citation for the paper, here's a description of SpiNNaker's hardware from the 'Spiking neural netowrk' Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,
Neurogrid, built at Stanford University, is a board that can simulate spiking neural networks directly in hardware. SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network Architecture) [emphasis mine], designed at the University of Manchester, uses ARM processors as the building blocks of a massively parallel computing platform based on a six-layer thalamocortical model.[5]
Now for the link and citation,
Performance Comparison of the Digital Neuromorphic Hardware SpiNNaker and the Neural Network Simulation Software NEST for a Full-Scale Cortical Microcircuit Model by
Sacha J. van Albada, Andrew G. Rowley, Johanna Senk, Michael Hopkins, Maximilian Schmidt, Alan B. Stokes, David R. Lester, Markus Diesmann, and Steve B. Furber. Neurosci. 12:291. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00291 Published: 23 May 2018
As noted earlier, this is an open access paper.


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Anthony D. Kruglinski, 1947-2014
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief"A great friend and colleague, Tony was a fighter until the end, and he carried himself with pride and honor throughout his treatment and disease," said Railroad Financial Corporation Senior Vice President David Nahass. "When he received his diagnosis, the outpouring of support from all corners of the industry was incredible. The continued inquiries after his well-being were equally frequent and touching. The concern was heartfelt and its sincerity and volume was a great source of happiness and contentment for Tony.
"Tony was especially touched by the outpouring of affection and support at Rail Equipment Finance 2014. In many ways, other than as the President of Railroad Financial Corporation, which he founded in 1989, the mark he put on the industry will be best epitomized by the conference and its relevance to the industry at large. He was proud of Rail Equipment Finance and the manner in which it has become a harbinger of spring and a bellwether for the industry's health. The enthusiasm for his participation in this year's REF was remarkable for him, his family, and for all of RFC.
"We will always remember Tony for his old school toughness and his appreciation for the people with whom he worked over the years. He was in so many ways an incredible man. A man of generosity, kindness, and intellect, Tony had a great love of life and was indeed a figure that was larger than life. He will be missed. As sad as we are to hear and acknowledge his passing, we know that his pain has eased and he is in a better place. Rest in peace, big guy."
"Tony was a man of formidable talent," said Railway Age Senior Consulting Editor Luther S. Miller. "Over the years, his many editorial contributions to the magazine—his Financial Edge column, and the Guide to Equipment Leasing and Financial Desk Book—set the standard for reporting and commentary on railroad equipment finance and leasing. But more significant, he was a man of integrity. Whether he was structuring a multi-million-dollar locomotive or railcar deal, or just giving advice, Tony inspired trust, confidence, and respect."
Born Sept. 13, 1947, in Englewood, N.J., to Anthony and Beatrice Kruglinski, Tony was raised in North Bergen, N.J. A former drill instructor in the U.S. Army Reserves, he began his railroad career as a Penn Central brakeman. Prior to forming Railroad Financial Corporation in Chicago, he managed the Surface Transportation Division of Irving Trust Company in New York City. He joined Railway Age as Financial Editor in 1989.
Tony is survived by his wife, Doreen (Reale) Kruglinski; children Susan Lebioda and her husband Konrad, Anne Kruglinski, Andrew Kruglinski, and James Kruglinski; granddaughter Karolina; and siblings Michael Kruglinski and his wife Diane, Thomas Kruglinski and his wife Mercy, and Judy Ergo.


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Norway finds Canada's largest publicly-traded company, Barrick Gold, unethical
Norway's Ministry of Finance announced Friday that it would exclude mining giant Barrick Gold and U.S. weapons producer Textron Inc from the country's pension fund for ethical reasons. This is an especially significant judgment for Canada, as Barrick Gold is currently Canada's largest publicly traded company.
While the Norwegian Council of Ethics full recommendation mentions conflicts involving Barrick in Chile, Tanzania, and the Philippines, the panel acknowledged that, "due to limited resources," it restricted its investigation of Barrick to the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea. The Porgera mine has been a prime target for criticism for its use of riverine tailings disposal, a practice banned in almost every country in the world.
"It's unbelievably embarrassing," admitted Green Party deputy leader Adriane Carr. "It's got to be bad news for Canada when a foreign government says it's going to sell its shares in a Canadian company they figure is unethical."
This isn't the first time that Norway's Fund has divested from a gold mining company. In fact, looking at a list, the fund - with the notable exception of Walmart - divests exclusively from mining (primarily gold mining) corporations and corporations that produce nuclear weapons or cluster munitions... an interesting juxtaposition highlighting the comparable nature of mining to the production of weapons of mass destruction, especially in terms of long-term environmental consequences.
Compare that to Canada's treatment of gold mining companies. Just this last December, Peter Munk, the chairman and founder of Barrick Gold, received the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor. Additionally, within Toronto he is honored as a philanthropist, with the Peter Munk Cardiac Center and the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto both adorning his name. Similarly, Ian Telfer, the chairman of Goldcorp, the world's second largest gold miner behind Barrick, has the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa bearing his name.
These symbolic gestures, along with the fact that several Canadian Pension funds and even Vancouver-based "Ethical Funds" are still heavily invested in Barrick Gold, show that Canada has a long way to go in demanding that its companies honor human rights and halt its colonial-style, exploitative economic regime. In fact, by its own admittance, Canada's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade stated that "Canada does not yet have laws to ensure that the activities of
Canadian mining companies in developing countries conform to human
rights standards, including the rights of workers and of indigenous
peoples." Since the date of that landmark confession, Canada has yet to adopt any intervening structures (like an ombudsperson) or develop any mandatory regulations for Canadian companies operating abroad.
Gold mining produces an average of 79 tons of waste for every ounce of gold extracted, 50 percent of it is carried out on native lands, and about 80 percent of it is used for jewelry, according to the "No Dirty Gold" campaign, a project of Oxfam and Earthworks. It is no wonder that in a portfolio with plenty of human rights abuses, the Norwegian Pension Fund decided to concentrate on gold miners, cluster munition manufacturers and nuclear weapon producers first. It is time that the rest of the world catch up.
- 4 WP Issues Library
- 19 Weapons Makers
- 104 Globalization
- 110 Trade Justice
- 116 Human Rights
- 176 War Profiteers Site
- 182 Health
- 183 Environment
- 194 World Financial Institutions
- 208 Regulation


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Linux Guide/Audacity to MP3
Setting Up Audacity[edit | edit source]
Before we can use Audacity, we need to install it.
Installation of Audacity[edit | edit source]
This page or section is an undeveloped draft or outline. You can help to develop the work, or you can ask for assistance in the project room. |
MP3s and Audacity[edit | edit source]
To make MP3s, Audacity needs the LAME library installed. First we need to create LAME, then tell Audacity where it is. You can list all compatible files in /usr with the command
find /usr |grep -E 'lib[^*]*lame[^*]*.so'
or your whole computer with
find / | grep -E 'lib[^*]*lame[^*]*.so'
If you find a libmp3lame.so file (using Debian Sarge 3.1r1), just tell Audacity were it is (below).
Otherwise, you will need to make LAME first:
Install LAME[edit | edit source]
- Make sure that GNU make and gcc are installed. To do this, you can type make -v and gcc -v and make sure you don't get a "command not found" error. The -v option just prints the version.
- The LAME library is available from [1]. Download the latest version from the file releases.
- Go to the console
- In the Linspire menu this is L > Programs > Utilities > Console
- In Konquer press F4
- In the Console, type
cd "<directory>"
replacing <directory> with the directoy LAME was extracted to; and press enter. e.g.: cd "/home/user/lame"
- Now type
cd "lame*"
to go into a directory called something like "lame-3.96.1". You can use cd "lame-3.96.1" instead. You may need to go deeper into the DIR,...so once again;
cd lame*
such that you may end up here (or similar); /LAME/lame-3.96.1/lame-3.96.1
Once you are able to type in;
./configure --help
and get back an output of useful info, instead of a bash/shell error you know then you are in the correct DIR.
- LAME configures itself automatically - type dot slash configure and press enter:
- However; Please read either the INSTALL file, the README file, or review the ./configure --help output (if more advanced) to determine your build options. I chose to include these --enable-mp3x and --enable-debug=norm. Notice many options are defaulted to yes.
- When it returns to the command prompt you would type
and press enter.
- LAME is now made in that directory, we'd like it installed into the system. This installation requires you to be root (super-user). If you are root (the prompt will be root@something# ) then type:
make install
and press enter. If you aren't root, type:
su -c "make install"
and press enter. Type the root password when asked (it will be invisible) and press enter.
Install to Audacity[edit | edit source]
When LAME is installed, we need to tell Audacity about it. The first time you go to export to an MP3 Audacity will ask you where libmp3lame.so is located. You can simply point it to the libmp3lame.so file, normally in the /usr/local/lib folder, and click OK and you should be all set.
Using Audacity[edit | edit source]
This page or section is an undeveloped draft or outline. You can help to develop the work, or you can ask for assistance in the project room. |


text:
- Cisco delivers intent-based networking for the wide area network (WAN) with new analytics and assurance solutions.
- Cisco solutions provide the visibility and insight that allow customers to quickly isolate and resolve issues in the WAN.
- Cisco solutions provide deep learning capabilities that can predict issues before they happen, potentially saving organizations from experiencing costly downtime.
Melbourne — Cisco today announced new innovations built to bring visibility to IT's biggest blind spot: the wide-area network (WAN). Made up of disparate networks outside of the control of IT, the WAN connects employees to applications, no matter where those employees might be. The fragmented nature of the WAN means that IT often has limited ability to specifically determine problems and get real-time information. Now, Cisco is helping IT by providing the capability to forecast WAN problems before they happen, while quickly isolating and fixing issues when they do occur.
Over the past few years, the rise of multicloud IT environments has exacerbated the traditional complexity of the WAN and magnified its challenges. A recent IDC study (Worldwide SD-WAN Survey Special Report September 2017) discovered that almost 3 out of 10 organizations considered network outages to be a top WAN concern, with the same number stating they need better visibility and analytics to manage application and WAN performance.
Building on the company's recent push toward intent-based networking, Cisco is driving this network revolution to the WAN. Today, Cisco is introducing innovations to provide IT with the vital visibility and insight into the WAN that will help keep businesses up and running:
- Cisco® SD-WAN vAnalytics provide IT with visibility, forecasting for applications and bandwidth planning, "what-if" scenarios, and actionable recommendations.
- Cisco Meraki™ Insight helps IT administrators optimize the end user experience by providing valuable understanding into WAN and SaaS application performance, significantly reducing the time it takes to isolate and resolve issues.
"We have set an ambitious goal for ourselves of transforming the entire network, from campus to branch, data center to edge," said Scott Harrell, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise Networking at Cisco. "The WAN is a vital part of the network and is one of the toughest to manage. As we bring insight into the WAN with these new innovations, we get closer to delivering end-to-end intent-based networking to help our customers eliminate downtime and save money."
Cisco provides a full portfolio of services to help accelerate a customer's journey to intent-based networking for the WAN. Services experts help customers create a customized roadmap for success, speed deployment, and maximize network performance.
Cisco SD-WAN vAnalytics
Today, Cisco is introducing Cisco SD-WAN vAnalytics (based on Viptela® technology). Built as a cloud-based SaaS solution, the technology provides comprehensive data, analysis, and corrective actions across the WAN, including branch offices, multicloud endpoints, and multiple service providers. Using vAnalytics, customers can forecast how potential policy changes to the WAN could affect application performance. It can also provide intelligent recommendations about how to deliver optimal application experiences. For example, with vAnalytics, organizations can now better understand how a rollout of IP-enabled security cameras or a cloud-based application across multiple branch offices could affect WAN infrastructure. vAnalytics can help enterprises identify the stress points and necessary policy changes, helping customers avoid technology growing pains.
"With over 600 branch offices and more than 5,000 employees, we rely on cloud applications and an always connected workplace to serve our customers," said Peter Castle, senior network engineer, Reece Ltd. "Our business requires a secure, scalable, and high-performance WAN. With vManage, we can centrally deploy branch applications and services rapidly, and we have been able to dramatically improve branch availability and bandwidth utilization with the rich analytics this platform provides. We are looking forward to the additional functionality we will be able to achieve with the even richer application visibility that vAnalytics will provide us."
Cisco Meraki Insight
Today, Cisco Meraki is also announcing Meraki Insight, a new tool integrated into the Meraki dashboard to help IT maintain a better end-user experience. The solution provides end-to-end visibility with application and WAN performance analytics. With Meraki Insight, customers can understand and troubleshoot both internal and external issues that can contribute to poor user experience for applications hosted in a remote data center or in the cloud. Meraki Insight helps IT achieve faster time to resolution for performance issues by more accurately pinpointing the source of the problem.
"At Extra Space Storage, as we move more and more of our business-critical applications to the cloud, it is imperative to maintain a high-performance network," said Jacob Stimpson, senior analyst, IT Business at Extra Space Storage. "Meraki Insight gives us the network and SaaS application visibility we need to quickly remediate issues and ensure a great end-user experience."
- Cisco SD-WAN vAnalytics is available now via a Cisco SD-WAN license tier.
- Cisco Meraki Insight is expected to be available in Cisco's Q3. It will be available as a separate license.
Additional Resources
- Executive blog: Extending Intent-Based Networking to the WAN
- News release: New Predictive Analytics, Assurance Capabilities Advance Cisco's Strategy to Reinvent the Network for Digital Business (January 2018)
- News release: Cisco unveils network of the future that can learn, adapt and evolve (June 2017)
- Read about: Cisco intent-based networking
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow's digital opportunity today. Discover more at newsroom.cisco.com and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. Many of the products and features described herein remain in varying stages of development and will be offered on a when-and-if-available basis. This roadmap is subject to change at the sole discretion of Cisco, and Cisco will have no liability for delay in the delivery or failure to deliver any of the products or features set forth in this document. This document is Cisco Public Information.
RSS Feed for Cisco: https://newsroom.cisco.com/rss-feeds


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White House Can't Shake Critics for Overestimating Libyan Compound Security
White House and State Department officials continue to take severe criticism for overestimating compound security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya – with one email exchange between a reporter and a State Department aide deteriorating into expletives after the reporter continued to poke holes in the administration's story.
Even after administration officials were forced to change their story about the origin of the outbreak in Libya from one of happenstance to admitting the attacks were planned, some reporters continued to press the issue of how secure the U.S. embassy in Benghazi was, or if there was any at all.
One Sunday morning email conversation between BuzzFeed correspondent Michael Hastings and Philippe Reines, a longtime personal aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have brought the tension on this issue between the media and Obama administration to head.
The reporter wanted to know why the State Department didn't search the compound and find items such as deceased U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens' personal effects, including a diary later discovered by CNN. The reporter also began to press Reines by asking if security was adequate and why the department didn't help secure the compound after the attack.
Reines' response focused on the journalistic responsibility CNN had after discovering Stevens' diary and should they have used the information prior to contacting the family and seeking permission. BuzzFeed pressed back, accusing the State Department of not taking responsibility for the attack and blaming CNN for airing the contents of the diary.
That's when the conversation got testy.
Reines replied: "I now understand why the official investigation by the Department of the Defense as reported by The Army Times The Washington Post concluded beyond a doubt that you're an unmitigated asshole. How's that for a non-bullshit response? Now that we've gotten that out of our systems, have a good day. And by good day, I mean F*** Off."
Yet this "unofficial" response from the administration may only be a deeper sign that President Obama is struggling with vote confidence on his ability to handle the complex and growing unrest in the Middle East, even after the much touted Arab Spring that led to a government overthrow in Libya.
In his address to the United Nations on Tuesday, Obama began his speech by talking about Stevens and his dedication to his country and helping the region. But he also referenced the anti-Muslim video produced by a man using the name of Sam Bacile and shown by controversial Florida Pastor Terry Jones as being a cause of the attacks.
"That is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity," Obama said to the U.N. "I know there are some who ask why we don't just ban such a video. And the answer is enshrined in our laws: Our Constitution protects the right to practice free speech."
"If we are serious about upholding these ideals, it will not be enough to put more guards in front of an Embassy; or to put out statements of regret, and wait for the outrage to pass. If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis. Because we face a choice between the forces that would drive us apart, and the hopes we hold in common."
Immediately after the attacks President Obama ordered an increase in security at all U.S. embassies following the 9/11 attacks but critics still remain.
Several Congressmen sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday expressing concern for State Department employees and property in the Middle East.
"Clearly, the threat from Al Qaeda and affiliated groups has metastasized; yet we do not appear to be learning from the past," the letter states. "We place significant weight on our constitutional responsibility to conduct appropriate oversight even when Congress is not in session and stand ready to return to Washington."
The lawmakers who signed the letter include House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Rogers, (R-Ky.), Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. McKeon, (R-Calif.), Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, (R-Fla.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Smith, (R-Texas), among others.


text:
Visual Edge IT Kentucky | Louisville | Commonwealth Technology
Secure Technology Solutions
Visual Edge IT Commonwealth's Louisville office is a complete supplier of office equipment. We offer a wide range of multifunction copy/copy technology and supplies to meet small- and medium-sized businesses' document needs. Visual Edge IT Commonwealth's Louisville office offers a wide range of services including equipment recommendations, document management, facility management, and managed print services.
Louisville ( (listen) LOO-ee-vil, US: (listen) LOO-ə-vəl, locally (listen) LUUV-əl) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark, making it one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachians. With nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which grew into a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) system across 13 states.
Algonquin, Auburndale, Audubon, Avondale-Melbourne Heights, Beckley, Beechmont, Belknap, Berrytown, Bon Air, Bon Air Estates, Bonnycastle, Brownsboro Zorn, Butchertown, California, Cherokee Gardens